Y2K QUOTES FOR THE MONTH

The whole article is on Y2K, however I am posting just the
quotes of the month. Please go read the rest of the article
he talks about his experiance at a local Y2K awareness meeting.

PS: Diane, that is one pithy quote of yours at the end!

Things will get worse before they get better.....

http://www.fiendbear.com/view0999.htm

The Contrarian's View

Vol. XIV, #2, September 30, 1999

Y2K QUOTES FOR THE MONTH

With less than six months to go before the Y2K date change, the global picture that is slowly
emerging is cause for concern.... Our assessments suggest that the global community is likely
to experience varying degrees of Y2K- related failures in every sector, in every region and at
every economic level. - Jacquelyn L. Williams-Bridgers [Inspector General of the Department of
State, before Congress]

Even the heartiest optimists concede that the international [Y2K] situation looks negative.
They just don't seem to grasp the idea that the United States will be seriously impacted. This
defies logic, empirical evidence and past experience. At what point does the light bulb go on?
At what point does Y2K denial become Y2K reality? - Paul Mladjenovic

I have been in meetings in Tokyo for the last week, and have met some very high-up people in
industry and government, which has given me a lot of critical information about the risk posed
to the world economy by the world's second largest economy.... The government has had a Y2K
campaign running since summer 1998, and have done a lot of the right things, but until last
week, no-one had told them that Y2K affected PCs at all.... Only one bank has even started
checking their PCs.... In meetings with some of the key PC manufacturers, it became clear that
they have NOT tested the BIOS for Y2K issues (just like the US situation in 1997) ....many
companies are not telling the truth [about Y2K] - but this is mostly from ignorance rather than
a deliberate policy. However, having told an untruth, they must confess if they subsequently
wish to change their tune - and THAT results in a loss of face. - Karl W. Feilder [founder and
president of Greenwich Mean Time]

We can't surprise people. There are going to be Y2K failures on New Year's Day.... People
ought to prepare, but they ought to prepare early. - John Koskinen

A couple of weeks ago I met with the branch manager of a bank in which I have an account,
on some non-Y2K related business. After completing the business I casually asked about the
bank's Y2K compliance. The manager replied that the bank felt there would be no problems
with the bank's systems, that much work had been done and the systems were checking out
pretty well. I then asked what the bank planned to do about other bank's systems that may not
be compliant. Specifically I asked how the bank would protect its ostensibly compliant systems
from corrupt incoming data from other systems. He said that incoming data can be blocked
out to protect the integrity of a system. I replied that if you block all questionable data, you
destroy the overall interconnected system and essentially destroy the banking system. How can
this be dealt with? I received a blank look for a second or two as he processed this query and
saw a bunch of Error messages on the personal computer system in his head. His answer was
that he knew of no way to deal with this, that any widespread data blocking would destroy the
system it was intended to save.... "Then what is the answer?" I asked. "There isn't any that I
know of," said the banker. You can guess what I did when I left his office. - Cody Varian

For you people who are undecided, Banks are terrified. The ABA says that Citigroup spent
almost a billion dollars fixing something and the article didn't say that they were done. Since
this is T minus 135 days [on August 18] including weekends, holidays, sick days, and uh-oh,
maybe a project manager will be up on charges of exposing himself or will decide to take early
retirement, you gotta wonder how Citigroup expects to slam the last brick into place juuuust in
time. How did they do it? How did every other bank in the world manage to time things so that
their last brick slams into place juuuuust in time? And what's really odd is that they started at
different times. They expended different amounts of effort. Some claim to have spent less than
fifty million bucks. Chase says 363 million, Citigroup is on record at 950 million. It's like a
turtle, a panther, and a meat bee are in a race to Boston, one starts in Florida, another in
Kansas, and the third from Alabama. Somehow they all end up at the finish line within
moments of each other? I'm as gullible as the next person but come-on, someone is faking the
results. - Cory Hamasaki

We can print more money than Americans can withdraw. - John Koskinen [February 17, 1999]

Social Security started ten years ago. They've been lauded up and down for being early,
planning and executing the remediation, and praised on TV, the printed press, over an over for
being Y2K A+, verified compliant. In the face of all this, I've consistently written that they
weren't done. That I've had insider, geek-vine reports that Social Security was still working on
Y2K and that there was a disconnect between the word from the trenches and the clueless
yip-yap from the talking heads. I've maintained that there would be Y2K failures at Social
Security, probably not show stoppers but problems and failures none the less. I based this on
insider info, whispered words from geeks who are still cranking code at Social Security, and 30
years of knowing how complex enterprise systems respond to unusual conditions. Now we have
a series of interesting events, 1) the GAO, the pit bulls of the government, are tearing at Social
Security on Y2K mis-statements, 2) Social Security's Y2K Tsarina retires 4 months before the
big, write your own ticket to the presidential ball, party, 3) A public failure, your benefits
expire in 1900, makes the Worshington Post. - Cory Hamasaki

SSA is still patching their source code. I've seen the incorrect comparison where YYDDD is
compared to YYYYDDD in SSA code. - Cory Hamasaki

I know for a fact that we're going to have some problems in Indiana - Connie Kay Nass [State
Auditor]

I received an inquiry from a law firm asking if I want to be an expert witness in the coming
Y2K litigation and what my rate is. Pay me now or pay me later, is that it? - Cory Hamasaki

I know a mainframe ISV/service bureau that is goin' fix-on-failure for their 75,000 COBOL,
PL/I and assembler programs. Yes, some programs are fine, wouldn't need fixes; some
programs are only run once in a decade; some can be forcibly retired. Some will break and
take not just the bureau down but will take their clients down too. - Cory Hamasaki

If you want to know why the press ignores y2k, here's why. Y2K threatens the credibility of the
government and the solvency of the banks. It threatens the cushy jobs of reporters, and their
pensions, too. So, it's not a story. But, like Waco, it will be when the truth can no longer be
suppressed. But expect no apologies from the mainstream news media for their deliberate
suppression of massive quantities of negative evidence. There is one thing that always gets
spiked by the media: their collective conscience. - Gary North

Actual press release: "Anastar Inc., a Silicon Valley company, is introducing a new product
that doubles as a bright Christmas tree-top star as well as backup lighting in case of a Y2K
power outage." And if you make that tree out of bread sticks with salad greens for leaves and
tofu ornaments, you'll have an emergency food supply, too. Gives me that warm, holiday
feeling all over. - Diane J. Squire